Valerie Ponseti worked at The Southeastern Channel as university students. She benefited from the hands-on experience and was immediately able to get jobs as professional reporters upon graduation.
Courtesy of Rick Setton
The Southeastern Channel first aired on Jul. 9, 2002 and since then it has established itself as one of the premier college TV stations. Twenty-five student reporters from The Southeastern Channel have been hired in the professional field in the past 10 years. Eleven of them have been hired in the past two years.
“We develop students with high-quality standards in every aspect required for a reporter job opening from broadcast writing to on-camera performance, voice narration, producing, shooting and editing,” said General Manager of The Southeastern Channel Rick Settoon. “The Southeastern Channel has a great reputation for turning out top reporters. News directors at TV stations call us up wanting to hire our students over those from other universities, and they’re often hired quickly after graduation. In fact, several of our graduates have won reporting jobs in larger markets like New Orleans and Baton Rouge as soon as they graduated which is exceptional.”
The instruction given at the channel to students is immediately effective because of the professional instructors and the equipment to turn student reporters into professionals.
“At The Southeastern Channel, we have former network-level TV reporters and producers teaching and training student reporters in the most important skills and techniques that will make them ready for the real world of TV news and sports,” said Settoon. “These staff members and instructors are award winning and they know what it takes to land a reporting job and succeed.”
One of the highest profile graduates from the channel is Randi Rousseau, current news anchor at WDSU-TV News in New Orleans. She was hired after graduating in 2005 and now is the morning anchor for WDSU.
“In my current job working for Channel 6 at WDSU, whenever I stepped into the table, coming in as a Southeastern graduate, I was able to bring in with me the knowledge, the experience,” said Rousseau. “Hands-on experience primarily; that was needed to complete the job that I do at WDSU.”
Recent channel graduates have also been successful as professional journalists. Paul Rivera was an anchor and producer for the award winning “Northshore News” newscast. Rivera was named 2015 “Student Broadcaster of the Year” by the Louisiana Association of Broadcasters before he graduated in May 2015. Rivera is now a news reporter for KLTV News 7 in Tyler, Texas.
“It’s a blessing to have landed the job I landed,” said Rivera. “I really did get lucky going somewhere with people who were ready to help me grow from a college student to a news reporter. We are a TV station that puts community and family first and for that I am always thankful. I often think of all the places I could have ended up. Looking for a job for the first time can be intimidating, but I’m happy it worked out and I landed at KLTV.”
Other recent former channel graduates are Kristen Durand news reporter and anchor for WXXV News 25 in Gulfport, Mississippi, Caroline Patrickis news reporter and anchor for WIS-TV News 10 in Columbia, South Carolina, Trey Mongrue sports reporter and anchor for KTVE in Monroe, Taylor Rubach KLAX News 31 in Alexandria, Valerie Ponseti weekend anchor at KATC News 3 in Lafayette, Michael Vinsanau morning field anchor at WBRZ News 2 in Baton Rouge and Erika Ferrando now news reporter for KHTV News 11 in Little Rock, Arkansas.
“My start at The Southeastern Channel is the reason I have made it where I am today,” said Ferrando. “At first, I was scared and not sure if I was cut out for TV news, but after working there for two years, I developed into a journalist able to land her first gig at a small market TV station in Lake Charles.”
The channel works toward making the students feel like professionals in college so they can easily adjust to the professional workforce.
“I’ve always said that you learn the basics in college, and you build on that in this profession,” said Vinsanau. “For instance, you learn how to use a camera, but that’s not enough when you get into the real world. You have to learn the best angles to shoot, creativity with your shots and all of that comes with experience in the field. The channel is one of the best at ensuring that you’re on the right path from the beginning. They will correct you if you’re wrong, which sometimes can be critical, but in this profession, it’s a dog-eat-dog world, so learning how to take that criticism from the start is essential.”
Each semester, the channel produces top-notch TV journalists with the knowledge to be successful in TV news reporting. Future Southeastern Channel students can learn not only from their instructors, but their predecessors in how to be a successful TV journalist.
“Start mentally preparing yourself now for the hustle,” said Rivera. “I know it sounds silly, but once you get that job, don’t expect anything to be handed to you. You will constantly be working, on and off the clock because it’s your job to make stories that will motivate and that people will love. Always be on the lookout for stories that you can make matter to the area that you’re in. Get people’s phone numbers in the professional world, call them, ask them how things are in their communities, maybe they’ll give you the scoop on something that’s going on. And finally, get internships, your résumé will thank you for it and you will know how the pros work before you become one.”
Randi Rousseau (WDSU)worked at The Southeastern Channel as university students. She benefited from the hands-on experience and was immediately able to get jobs as professional reporters upon graduation.
Courtesy of Rick Setton
Erika Ferrando (KHTV) worked at The Southeastern Channel as university students. She benefited from the hands-on experience and was immediately able to get jobs as professional reporters upon graduation. Ferrando was named “Student Broadcasters of the Year” by the Louisiana Association of Broadcasters in 2014.
Courtesy of Rick Setton
Michael Vinsanau (WBRZ). He benefited from the hands-on experience and were immediately able to get jobs as professional reporters upon graduation.
Courtesy of Rick Setton
Paul Rivera (KLTV) worked at The Southeastern Channel as university students. He benefited from the hands-on experience and was immediately able to get jobs as professional reporters upon graduation. Rivera was named “Student Broadcasters of the Year” by the Louisiana Association of Broadcasters in 2015.
Courtesy of Rick Setton